The Artificial Intelligence Revolution in New-Product Development

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to revolutionize all aspects of business, particularly new-product development (NPD). Currently, our approach to NPD has remained largely unchanged for decades, yielding stubbornly poor results: only 30% of NP development projects become commercial successes . However, the AI revolution is set to alter this landscape significantly! Leading early adopter firms demonstrate that AI not only finds many applications in NPD but also offers substantial payoffs, such as 50% reductions in development times. This article provides an outline of the diverse and powerful applications of AI in NPD, offering numerous examples from leading companies. Examples include GE's use of digital models and twins to quickly test product designs in turbine development; BASFs use of AI to identify new molecules for use in customer formulations; and AI to generate new-product ideas, identify new-product opportunities, and even create new-product concepts. Our exploratory journey begins at the idea stage and traverses the entire new-product process to the postlaunch period. While AI might still resemble science fiction to many, that future is no longer fiction—it is here now. AI has arrived in full force! With an adoption window of about 13 years, the time is now to embrace AI in NPD in your business. AI will become a major milestone in NPD, perhaps the most important, within the decade.